Ira George Needles (1893–January 6, 1986) was the second
chancellor of the
University of Waterloo
The University of Waterloo (UWaterloo, UW, or Waterloo) is a public research university with a main campus in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is on of land adjacent to "Uptown" Waterloo and Waterloo Park. The university also operates ...
, holding the position from 1966 to 1975.
Personal life
Needles was born in
Mount Vernon, Iowa, in 1893. He received his undergraduate degree at
Coe College
Coe College is a private liberal arts college in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was founded in 1851 and is historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). The college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest and the Associatio ...
in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and his graduate degree in
business administration at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in
Evanston,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
. He had a daughter and two sons, Lauranna Jones, William and Myron (Bud), with his wife Marian. Needles died at his home in Waterloo on January 6, 1986.
B. F. Goodrich
After school, Needles began working at B. F. Goodrich (now known as
Goodrich Corporation
The Goodrich Corporation, formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, was an American manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Benjamin Goodrich, the company name was cha ...
) in 1916 in
Akron
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
. He moved to
Waterloo,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, Canada in 1925 after Goodrich purchased the Ames-Holden Rubber Company, and worked at its office as an assistant sales manager, and was eventually promoted to several positions including general manager of the tire division (1930), vice-president of sales, and chairman of the board (1958). After 26 years, he eventually rose to the position of president of B.F. Goodrich Canada, in 1951. He resigned from B.F. Goodrich in 1960.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, Needles served as a technical advisor for the
Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
to help ration
rubber
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, an ...
, which was a
strategic material during the war. After the war, he founded the
Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where his son, William, became an actor.
University of Waterloo
In the summer of 1956, Needles gave a speech at the
Rotary Club of Kitchener-Waterloo entitled ''WANTED: 150,000 Engineers – The Waterloo Plan''. In this presentation, Needles offered a different approach to education that would include both studies in the classroom and training in industry that would eventually become the basis of the
cooperative education
Cooperative education (or co-operative education) is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for struct ...
program at the University of Waterloo. Needles suggested that universities and industry should work together to fill the growing need for skilled graduates.
In 1958, he was named the first Kitchener-Waterloo Citizen of the Year by the K-W Jaycees and was a member of the Kitchener Chamber of Commerce.
Waterloo College (now
Wilfrid Laurier University
Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...
) planned to open a science faculty that would become known as the Waterloo College Associate Faculties in 1957. Needles—along with his B.F. Goodrich colleague, then-president of Waterloo College, and first president of the University of Waterloo,
Gerald Hagey
Joseph Gerald Hagey (September 28, 1904 – October 26, 1988) was a Canadian businessman, academic, and a founder and first president of the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario.
Biography
Hagey was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario ...
—founded the Waterloo College Associate Faculties, which later became the University of Waterloo, with Needles' vision of a cooperative education program that involved industry. After founding the university, Needles served as chairman of its board of governors from 1956 to 1966 and then became chancellor from 1966 to 1975.
See also
*
List of University of Waterloo people
The University of Waterloo, located in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, is a comprehensive public university that was founded in 1957 by Drs. Gerry Hagey and Ira G. Needles. It has grown into an institution of more than 42,000 students, faculty, and ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Needles, Ira
Chancellors of the University of Waterloo
Year of birth uncertain
1986 deaths
1893 births